Wednesday, December 7th 2011
Microsoft Talks Windows App Store, Sets Windows 8 Beta Release for February 2012
Yesterday at a developer/preview event in San Francisco, Microsoft Corp. has provided the first real details on the Windows app store and 'slipped' out the fact that the Windows 8 Beta will be outed in late February 2012. The Windows Store will debut in the upcoming beta release and is set to be the 'single source' of Metro-style apps.
Built using HTML5 and JavaScript, the Windows Store app boasts a fluid, easy-to-navigate interface that promotes the latest and most popular apps, and is scheduled to be available in 231 countries, supporting no less than 100 languages.
According to Microsoft, the Windows Store is designed to be the main hub for discovering free and paid apps for Windows 8 but users will also be able to find apps through search engines (Bing will have the whole app catalog archived) and on websites (courtesy of a built-in promotion method supported by Internet Explorer 10).
Microsoft will allow paid Windows apps to cost from $1.49 upwards and will give developers 70% of revenue. If the app makes $25,000 then the Redmond company will hike the developer payout to 80% of every dollar of revenue earned. To entice devs even more, Microsoft is promising a very flexible business model which allows for in-app purchases, third-party transaction platforms, and the use of any ad platform.
To access the Windows Store, individual developers will be required to sign up for a $49/year subscription. Companies will pay $99 per year.
To get the app party started Microsoft has announced the First Apps contest which will allow eight (free) apps to be very first apps in the Windows Store when it opens. More details are available here.
Built using HTML5 and JavaScript, the Windows Store app boasts a fluid, easy-to-navigate interface that promotes the latest and most popular apps, and is scheduled to be available in 231 countries, supporting no less than 100 languages.
To access the Windows Store, individual developers will be required to sign up for a $49/year subscription. Companies will pay $99 per year.
To get the app party started Microsoft has announced the First Apps contest which will allow eight (free) apps to be very first apps in the Windows Store when it opens. More details are available here.
18 Comments on Microsoft Talks Windows App Store, Sets Windows 8 Beta Release for February 2012
It really doesn't matter though, because like taxes, the 30% will likely be passed onto the consumer.
it should be tied to the OS, now the browser.
windows 8 is windows 7 with new skin they copied so much code you can can call windows8
rebrand just like amd, nvidia do with gpus
you shouldn't be giving a presentation in a wanna be apple store looking stage trying to emulate steve jobs while working for microsoft.
seriously I can't even focus on what they're doing because they look like apple wanna be's.
Seriously though, Win 8 looks to be shaping up quite well, and the unification of the Metro UI accorss the WP7 / Win8 / Xbox 360 lines will surely make the transition a bit easier as well as make the UX much more cohesive.
C'mon Microsoft, be a bit more BLATANT about copying Apple, would ya?
I skipped Vista because XP was fine. Now that I've got Windows 7, I probably won't upgrade for just as long as I had XP lol
Oh well. They're a business and they're in the business of doing business, so they're gonna do some business :laugh:
Also, this is after Apple came out with their own central location for OSX software. It took Microsoft this long to figure that out? No, of course, not, they're copying.